Antigua Girls’ High School
The Antigua Girls’ High School was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Williams, an English schoolmistress who came to the island in search of a good climate for her husband. The school occupied a building at the end of Nevis Street, opposite the Masonic Hall.
This photo shows the Antigua Girls High School in 1986. The Cathedral can be seen in the background.
Elizabeth Williams remained headmistress until 1902, and was followed briefly by another Englishwoman, who left to marry Archibald Spooner, the irascible manager of the Bendals factory, in 1904. The school was then taken over by two sisters, Melicent and May Branch, daughters of a St. Kitts doctor and cousins of the Antigua Grammar School headmaster, who served as joint headmistresses from 1905 until they retired in 1944. The school moved to its current premises in 1926. It was managed by a Trust until it was formally transferred to the Government in 1986.
The AGHS counterpart for boys was the Antigua Grammar School, which was established in 1884 by the Reverend S.E. Branch, song of the Bishop Coadjutor of Antigua. The AGS moved to its present location on Old Parham Road in 1910, into what was then the Poor House.
Both AGHS and AGS took in boarders from other islands and from the Antiguan countryside. However, both were fee-paying schools and therefore not accessible to most Antiguans.
To meet this need, Georgianna Ellen (Nellie) Robinson founded Nellie the T.O.R. Memorial School (named in honor of her brother Thomas Oliver) in 1898. This was the first school to accept children whose parents were not married, although they had to come from “good” families. She served as headmistress until 1950. In 2006, to mark the celebration of Antigua and Barbuda’s 25th anniversary of independence, Robinson became the first woman to be recognised as a national hero when she was posthumously bestowed as Dame Companion of the Most Exalted Order of National Hero (DNH).
This photo shows the T.O.R. School in 1981.
